Some television content, such as sports events and movies, are now broadcast or otherwise delivered (such as via cable, satellite or Internet) to viewers in a high definition format. Many viewers prefer viewing television content in the high definition format over the standard definition format.
High definition format television content, however, typically requires substantially more bandwidth than the standard definition format television content. High definition format television content may also require more expensive equipment than is required to receive and display standard definition format television content. For these and other reasons, high definition television content is typically supplied only by programming distributors with a very large local audience (such as televisions stations in the New York, Chicago or Los Angeles markets) or with a national audience.
Television content is typically transmitted with advertising and news tailored to the audience. Thus, television content provided by a local programming distributor to a local market (e.g., a geographically distinct market) typically contains advertisements and news tailored for that local market. Likewise, national programming distributors typically contain national advertisements and news. Thus, there exists a problem where viewers who watch high definition television content from a non-local (i.e., content directed to a local market different from that in which the viewer resides or to a national market) programming distributor may therefore be unable to see local television advertisements or news. As a consequence, viewers often must select between viewing the higher-quality, high definition, but non-local, television content or the standard definition local television content.
Accordingly there is a need for providing local advertising to viewers of high definition television content when there is no local, high-definition programming distributor for the television content. The present invention provides a solution to this and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.